A.M. Roundup: Foye leads the Port Authority

Good morning! It’s rainy and cool, and quiet, unless you’re jonesing to attend the Public Authorities Control Board, which is actually quite powerful and meets today. I’ll be in Saratoga Springs at a meeting of the Capital Region Economic Development Council. Here are today’s headlines…

Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed Pat Foye as executive director of the Port Authority and, as early as today, is expected to announce that Joseph Lhota will run the MTA. Cuomo’s move also put the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and Moynihan Station under the PA’s purview. (DN)

Eliot Brown and Andrew Grosman: The moves cement the governor’s control of the two powerful agencies, which are currently run in large part by officials appointed by his predecessor, David Paterson. The two departing executives—MTA Chairman Jay Walder and Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward—have been widely praised by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and mass-transit advocates but had icy relationships with Mr. Cuomo. (WSJ)

Adam Lisberg: Cuomo’s statement announcing the Port Authority changes made no mention of the mayor. Bloomberg put out no statement of congratulations, and a spokeswoman declined to comment.//Moynihan Station, an immensely complicated project to extend Penn Station’s platforms under the post office across Eighth Avenue and open up the West Side for further development, is largely funded for its first phase but has resisted attempts to push it to completion. Later, unfunded phases would turn the post office into a grand atrium and spur more real estate development, but the Cuomo administration is not getting behind those steps yet.//“He’s making a statement here—I don’t want a lot of little fiefdoms,” said one high-ranking Cuomo aide. “The governor’s charge to [Foye] is, ‘You’ve got to bring projects in. You’ve got to bring them in on time and on budget.’”//No matter how honorable Cuomo’s motives, it is a raw assertion of state power in New York City, something rarely seen under Gov. David Paterson. It comes as Cuomo and Bloomberg continue to view each other warily, with supporters of each man questioning the other’s motives on even the most minor of decisions. (City Hall)

Comptroller Tom DiNapoli found the state is $400 million behind revenue projections now. Budget Division officials are confident the spending plan is sound. Sales tax collections, however, are up slightly. (TU/GNS)

Edward-Isaac Dovere on how hard it is to attack Herman Cain: They’re in a bind: Like most insurgent candidates, Cain is an elusive target. He’s not a politician with a record to pick apart. Rather, he’s a highly likable figure who seems to be tapping into a deep vein of anti-Washington anger without seeming very angry himself. There’s also a complicating factor: He is a viable African-American candidate in a party that has a complicated history with racial politics.//So while veterans of insurgent campaigns — and those that fended them off — universally express confidence that Cain will eventually crash and burn, they also warn that candidates looking to hasten that demise will find that task exceptionally difficult. (Politico)